McLaren defend drivers in qualifying row

The team's drivers are under investigation by the race stewards for the way they appeared to get in the way of Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso during the closing seconds of the qualifying session at Sepang.

Heidfeld and Alonso have criticised the action of the McLaren duo for driving slowly on the racing line. Should the stewards deem that the BMW Sauber and Renault drivers were blocked, then Hamilton and Kovalainen could be docked grid positions.

But Whitmarsh is adamant that his men did nothing wrong as they lapped slowly to save fuel on their return to the pits.

"We've got two drivers before the stewards and we've got to be circumspect," Whitmarsh said when asked about the incident.

"There was clearly an issue there and it's unfortunate. If you look at the footage, our guys squeezed in as much as they could and slowed, and certainly we don't think we impaired Nick.

"But I can understand visually, that if you've got all of those cars and you're trying to do a quick lap then it's something you wouldn't be comfortable or happy with.

"As I understand it, he (Nick) has complained to the stewards and they will review the telemetry data. Nick was in fact quickest in all three sectors on that lap and I don't think he was unduly or physically impaired, but I can understand his view that having all of those cars around when you're trying to concentrate on a quick lap isn't ideal.

"Neither of our drivers did it intentionally and did what they could do to squeeze over to allow Nick and Fernando to do their quick laps."

The bizarre scenario of cars lapping slowly back to the pits before the end of qualifying was caused by teams trying to get their times in early, because of the threat of rain. This meant they finished their runs before the chequered flag came out.

"All of the cars trying to do flying laps would have been timed to be on their flying laps," explained Whitmarsh. "The majority of the guys went early because of the threat of rain.

"That resulted in a couple of the cars out of phase and still trying to do fastest laps. We informed our drivers that there were people trying to do their flying laps.

"Clearly, there was congestion on one part of the circuit with six cars trying to go into one corner. And both of our drivers have been called before the stewards."